project: meshing technical, political, and social forces Jack C. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) project: meshing technical, political, and social forces

Jack C. Swearengen

https://www.facebook.com/sonomamarintrain http://sonomamarintrain.org/index.php

The Rise of the Nones

Understanding and reaching the religiously unaffiliated

James Emery White (Baker Books 2014)

Nones Cause Community Christ

“Since 2010, cause has proven to be the largest area of connection with a lost world, especially when it comes to the Nones. Cause arrests their attention and enlists their participation in the overall community of Christianity.”

Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV)

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into

• exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
• Earthkeeping
• Justice: making things right

Not just cheerleaders*

• ensure that the project is a social as well as an

engineering success

• be the voice of the community and the

passenger

• serve as a forum and information clearinghouse
• counter opposition and misinformation

* Friends don’t let friends … “

Ridership studies: where the people live

Each red dot represents 10 people. The vast majority of Marin and Sonoma residents live along the SMART railroad and Highway 101 – most within an easy bike ride to a station. The green dots represent future rail stations along the corridor.

5

Ridership studies: where the jobs are

Source: D. Sperling. Transportation for Sustainability 7 May 2015

Mobility

The US has evolved into a car monoculture

Source: D. Sperling. Transportation for Sustainability 7 May 2015

Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. Isa 2:7b.

Transportation and the Environment

Source: D. Sperling. Transportation for Sustainability 7 May 2015

Energy Consumption

Transportation’s share of US energy use is growing…

But a shift to rail would make a major impact

Source: D. Sperling. Transportation for Sustainability 7 May 2015

Public transit is a growth industry

15

Greenhouse gas reduction

• In Sonoma and Marin Counties, transportation is the source of about

60% of greenhouse gas emissions.

• SMART will directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about

124,000 lbs per day, -- 31 million pounds per year -- by shifting an estimated 5,300 daily trips away from automobiles.

• That figure doesn’t include GHG reductions due to increased use of

buses, shuttles, bicycles and walking.

Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU)

Tier IV Diesel Engine

18

SMART’s self-propelled Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains lower greenhouse gas and particulate emissions to unprecedented levels

• Will meet EPA’s stringent Tier 4 emissions standards
• Lower emissions than locomotives

Emissions

PHASE I CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS Feb 2015

Construction Start Date May 9, 2012 Started Track Rebuilding July 7, 2012 Total Track Rebuilt 40 miles (out of 43 miles)

• 136,000 crossties replaced (90% concrete)

Passing Sidings Built 3 (out of 4) Bridges/Trestles Rebuilt or Repaired 48 (out of 49)

• 11 timber bridges replaced with concrete

Tunnels Rebuilt 2 Grade Crossings Rebuilt 48 (out of 56) Platform Footings & Walls 10 (out of 12) Systems Ductbank Installation Complete from Airport Blvd. to San Rafael

Phase 1 Capital Costs

Construction Contracts $347.8 million Capital Project Management $90.5 million Total $438.3 million

Phase 1 mileage Downtown San Rafael to Santa Rosa Airport 43 mi.

Gauntlet tracks

Interlaced tracks, with signals, that allow freight trains to pass station platforms with CPUC- mandated minimum clearance (7 stations)

Level Boarding

Track Work

Before and after reconstruction

Roadway Crossing Inserts

Tunnel Rehabilitation (2)

New Drawbridge

Obstacles surmounted

 Economic downturn  Unanticipated or underestimated issues, e.g.

• Positive Train Control
• Scope and difficulty of permitting process
• Decline in federal funding for transit

 Local opposition including NIMBYs  Organized opposition from the highway lobby

• Closure
• Grade separation
• Consolidation
• Federal Regulations and State General

Orders

• State, local and industry guidelines

(MUTCD, APTA, and AREMA etc.)

• Road geometry
• Vehicular stopping distance
• Approach (corner) sight distance

up/down track for vehicles approaching crossing

• Clearing sight distance, can the classes
• f vehicles utilizing crossing clear tracks

before

• train enters crossing?
• Train speed
• Type of train service (freight only or

passenger and freight.)

• Road speed
• Road width
• Number of traffic lanes
• Street lights
• Paved or un-paved road?
• Number of passenger trains per day
• Number of freight trains/switch moves

per day

• Number of tracks
• Average daily traffic count
• Total exposure (number of vehicles X

number of trains)

• Type of vehicular traffic (cars, trucks,

trailers, busses etc.)

• Dangerous or hazardous material

traffic?

• Industrial facilities
• Life cycle cost
• Other site specific issues

Private (illegal) Crossings:

Factors to Consider In Diagnostic Engineering Review

• Air quality standards
• National Historic Preservation Act Compliance
• Section 4(f) compliance―DOT act of 1966
• Federal Cultural Resource clearances
• Endangered Species Act Compliance
• Executive Order 12898 (Environmental Justice) Compliance
• Title VI of Civil Rights Act
• California Environmental Quality Act
• National Environmental Policy Act
• Cultural Resources Preservation
• Water Quality Study
• Biological Assessment
• State Route 37 Integrated Traffic, Infrastructure and Sea Level Rise Analysis

Some of the hundreds of safety, regulatory, and other steps required

Some Agencies that must be satisfied

• Bay Conservation & Development Commission
• Archaeological Construction Monitoring
• State Historic Preservation Office
• US Army Corps of Engineers
• US Coast Guard
• US Fish & Wildlife Service
• National Marine Fisheries Service
• US Department of Transportation
• California Department of Transportation
• Federal Transit Administration
• Federal Railway Administration
• California Public Utilities Commission
• California Department of Fish & Wildlife
• San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board
• County flood control districts (2)

• Prevent train-to-train collisions
• Prevent overspeed derailments
• Enforce slow zones where workers are present
• At turnouts, PTC will not allow conflicting movements
• At-grade crossing warning systems monitored for

failures

Positive Train Control (PTC)

Mandated by Congress in 2008

Cost to SMART: $50M Three key components: Technology, Safety, Education

Surety from PTC

Four levels of redundancy:

• 1. Basic: manual control
• a. speed limits
• b. emergency braking
• 2. Audio & visual warnings to driver
• 3. Automatic train control
• 4. Permission to proceed

Cost: $50M

USE OF CREOSOTE TREATED WOOD In the reconstruction of the SMART system, 90% of the existing creosote treated timber ties were removed and replaced with concrete ties. The remaining 10% were replaced with treated timber ties, most located at grade crossings and switches. SMART removed 940 existing creosote treated piles from bridges over Waterways.

Chimera coast redwood tree

34

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRylK7auh1I

Species & Sensitive Habitat

• CA Red Legged Frog
• CA Clapper Rail
• Salt Marsh Harvest

Mouse

• Central CA Coast

Steelhead

• Salt & Fresh Water

Wetlands

• Rivers, Creeks and

Streams 35

Social Justice: SMARTs Title VI Program

• Nondiscrimination Policy
• Outreach & Public

Participation Plan

• Limited English Proficiency

Plan

• System-Wide Service and

Standards Policies

• Title VI Complaint and

Reporting Process.

Demographics for Title VI compliance

QUIET ZONES

“QUAD GATES”

“QUIET ZONES”

Curb median at Hamilton Parkway in Novato

Penngrove Crossings

Residents say structures in roadways at SMART tracks, designed as safety feature, pose hazard to motorists

Anti-Transit Groups Pro Transit Groups

American Highway Users Alliance

http://www.highways.org/

Alliance for a Paving Moratorium

http://www.culturechange.org/apm_page.htm

Reason Foundation

http://reason.org/areas/topic/t ransportation

American Public Transit Association

http://www.apta.com/Pages/default.aspx

Heartland Institute

https://www.heartland.org/

Victoria Transportation Policy Institute

www.vtpi.org

Cato Institute

http://www.cato.org/

National Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates

http://www.publictransportation.org/napta/Pages/default. aspx

National Motorists Association

http://www.motorists.org

National Association of Railroad Passengers

www.narprail.org

• 1. Light Rail has been a failure everywhere. The estimated

costs always prove too low, and the ridership projections are always too high.

• 2. Transit is a declining industry.
• 3. Commuting by rail is slower than commuting by car or bus.
• 4. Transit does not relieve congestion.
• 5. Where transit is needed, buses are better than rail. Buses

cost less and provide the same or better service.

• 6. Rail transit can only serve city centers, but most new jobs

are in the suburbs.

Anti-transit myths

• 7. Rail Transit does not spur economic development.
• 8. Transit brings crime into a community.
• 9. Most Light Rail riders are former bus riders.
• 10. Free market competition and privately operated transit

is better.

• 11. On average, most of the seats on a bus or train are

empty.

• 12. It would be cheaper to lease or buy a new car for every

rider than to build a new light rail system.

Anti-transit myths (cont’d)

• 1. Transit subsidies exceed automobile subsidies.
• 2. Increasing transit funding does not increase ridership
• 3. Transit is not cost effective.
• 4. Most people do not want rail transit.
• 5. Monorail is better than Light Rail.
• 6. Light Rail is not safe.
• 7. Transit infrastructure is only constructed to get federal money.
• 8. Rail transit does not help revitalize downtowns.
• 9. Transit is an 'inferior' good; as incomes rise, demand declines
• 10. Transit inefficiencies and failures are the result of politics.

More myths

• 11. Rail transit is a federal conspiracy.
• 12. Transit is not important because its market share is so

small.

• 13. Transit systems are poor stewards of public funds.
• 14. Rail transit does not increase property values.
• 15. Before federal involvement, transit paid for itself.
• 16. Light Rail is promoted by overly low fares.
• 17. Cutting spending on transit would allow tax cuts.
• 18. Transit subsidies should be directed to users, not

providers.

• 19. Light Rail is social engineering.
• 20. Transit costs more than it should.
• 21. Trains are noisy.
• 22. The overhead wires for Light Rail are ugly.

Anti-transit activists must live in denial

• Anthropological global warming is a politically motivated myth, intended

to force us all into smart growth or TOD villages so that we can be controlled.

• Transit is social engineering. (Highways, airports, and subsidies to oil

companies are not social engineering.)

• Public transit undermines individual liberty.
• Traffic congestion can be solved with more pavement.
• Land is an inexhaustible resource.
• Transit is subsidized, whereas highways pay for themselves.
• Petroleum is plentiful, if we just drill (baby, drill).
• Air, soil, and water pollution from cars and trucks is not a cause for

concern (EPA is a cause for concern).

First Day of Service